Iris
by RMTNDEW
Summary: Anna attended school with the X Men, and when Jean dies she's right there to help Scott get through it. Soon things begin to happen that she can't explain, and between it and mourning she finds comfort in a stranger named Logan.
1. Shadows of Memories

'Iris'

I was thirteen I think…yeah…thirteen. That was the first time I had ever noticed that I was 'different'. I was different in a way that my parents couldn't tell me it didn't matter to the other kids my age. Boy, are kids critical. I don't remember exactly what it was, but for some reason I was angry with my parents. Maybe it was because they wouldn't let me go to the 'cool party' some kids from school were having that night, that part I'm still unclear about. What isclear though is what _did_ happen that night. As I said; I was angry with my parents. So, I went to my room, slamming the door on my way in just to piss them off, when I heard my mother coming towards my room. I didn't want her to come in, but I didn't have a lock on my door, it was the fire safety rules in our house. I thought about pushing something up against my door, but knew that I didn't have enough time. That's when it happened; I was staring at my dresser, wishing that in some way I could have moved it in front of the door quick enough, and without me touching it, it slid across the floor, in front of my door, locking my mother out.

"Annaliese let me in!" My mother called from the other side of my door, unknowing to the event that had just occurred.

I screamed. I didn't know what else to do; I didn't know what was going on. The scream, of course, made my parents worried, so my father took my door off of its hinges and after pushing my dresser out of the way, they found me curled into a ball in the corner furthest from my doorway. To them it had appeared that I had gone crazy, I had completely lost my mind. Then when I told them that my dresser moved because I had thought about moving it, but I hadn't actually done it myself, they thought that I was trying to take the heat off of our argument by posing like I was going crazy. It wouldn't have been such a bad idea, if that was indeed what I was actually trying to convince them of, but instead it was much more real. I decided not to talk to them about it again, not until I could prove it at least.

That's when I started practicing and really focusing on moving objects, to see what, exactly, I could move. I started out small at first, when I would do laundry I would try moving the detergent from the floor to the top of the washing machine. It got bigger from there. I would move everything in my room around and once, when I was sure that no one was watching, I moved the car over by a few feet in the driveway. At that time I decided to go back to my parents and show them what I could do. They didn't believe me to begin with, it was such a far fetched idea that I didn't blame them. But, they soon came to realize that it wasn't a joke, that it was real; I could actually move things, solid objects, with my mind. After doing some research they found a school for teenagers like me. It was in New York, and I spent all of my time there, except for the few summer months, which I spent at home in the south.

While I was there I met a girl named Jean. She also had telekinesis, and we bonded straight away. We shared rooms, powers, taste it guys, everything that counted to teenagers. Even though I didn't think I was unattractive, I always felt like she was so much prettier than I was. She had gorgeous, straight red hair, brown eyes, and was perfectly tall. I, other the other hand had curly brown hair that didn't seem to want to lie down until I reached my mid twenties, green eyes that I felt were a little _too_ big, and I was nearly six foot and felt far too tall. She could have dated any man she wanted, but, she was after one guy only; Scott. He also went to school with us. They dated all through college and even got married one summer. I was the Maid of Honor. Even though I was a little jealous that I was still boyfriend-less and she was married to the seemingly perfect man, I couldn't have felt happier for her. Everything was going great for both of them. They were a wonderful family, had great jobs with both of them working at the mansion, and she was doing so well in her fight against the Anti-Mutant and Mutant Registration Champagnes.

I had been on vacation for a week and promised myself that I would call to check in on her once I got home. Ever since the attack on Liberty Island she had been complaining about not feeling like her old self. She kept telling me that she felt like something bad was going to happen. She didn't want me going away on vacation because she was afraid that something would happen to me while I was gone. That's why I was going to call, to tell her that I was at home safe and sound.

When I got home, I played back the messages on my answering machine. In between the ones I had from bill collectors, my old boss and an ex-boyfriend there was a message from Scott. He sounded sad, but since he hadn't said that anything was wrong, I took my time to do some things before calling him back. I checked the house to make sure everything was still in order, looked through my mail, and poured myself a drink before I finally picked up the phone and called.

"Hey Scott, I got your message, sorry it took so long for me to get back to you." I rushed as soon as he answered.

"Anna," he said, his tone was flat and exhausted, "she's gone, we lost her."

"What?" I asked in confusion. _Who was gone, who did they lose?_

"Jean's gone; she left the jet as we were about to fly out of Alkali Lake. The power was gone in the jet so she left it to power it on her own. We lost her in the flood when the dam broke."

The meaning of his words slowly sank into my mind, like someone falling through quicksand; slowly but surely. I began to cry and in between my sobs I could hear Scott quietly crying as well.

"When?" I asked as soon as my mouth could find the words.

"Two days ago,"

"Okay, look, I've still have everything packed, I'm going to head down to the airport and try to get a plane out of here as fast as I can. I'll be there soon, so just stay there and uh…we can talk." I muttered the last half, not really thinking. I was still tired from traveling and still had jet lag, but that was something important to me. My best friend was gone and her husband was the only person who was as close to her as I was, and he needed me right then. So I made me way to New York and by ten o'clock that night I was at the mansion.

"Hey," I said, walking through the door and giving Scott a hug. I dropped my bags beside me so I could hold him tighter. "How are you?"

"I'm okay,"

"I'm so sorry, Scott, I know this is tough, I can't even imagine what you're going through. But, we'll get through it, you'll be all right."

"I know, thank you for coming up here on such short notice." He said, breaking our embrace.

"Don't worry about it,"

"No, I know you've got to be tired, so I'll take you to your room and maybe we can talk some more tomorrow."

"All right," I said, grabbing my bags and followed him upstairs.

It had been so long since I had been to the school, probably five or six years at least, but everything was still so familiar to me. As I followed him past one of the old class rooms that was upstairs, I was hit with a sudden memory of when Jean and I were both just sixteen. We had snuck out of our dorm rooms and into the class room to put a love letter, that I had talked her into writing to Scott, inside his desk. But, unfortunately for her, he was sick and didn't come to class the next day, and the kid who sat in his seat instead thought that Jean had a crush on him. She was mad at me, but not for very long.

_How could she possibly be gone?_ I tried not to let the thought plague me too much, I was far too tired to go through it all again, I didn't want to cry anymore that night, I just wanted to get some rest.

I followed Scott as he stopped at a door, "This is your room, and I'm just two doors down on the left, if you need anything." He said, pointing. "You know where everything else is, right?"

"Yeah, I think I remember," I said, opening the door to my room and dropping my bags inside. I reached for Scott and hugged him once again. "It's going to be okay, we'll get trough it together."

"I know, let's get some sleep, though." He said as I let go of him.

"Goodnight," I said, watching him walk the few short feet down the hall to his room.

"Goodnight," he called back.

I walked into my room, pushing my bags out of my way with my feet. I pulled off my shoes and climbed into bed, I didn't mind to change my clothes. As soon as my head hit my pillow, I was out.

I woke up, sweating, scared about a bad dream I had just had. But, as my eyes adjusted to the light around me, I quickly remembered that it wasn't a dream, I wasn't in Cancun on vacation anymore. I was at Professor Xavier's school, I had come to see Scott, and Jean was dead.

I flipped on the lamp beside my bed and looked at my watch; it was past four in the morning.

Even though I was tired, I was hungry and my legs were hurting. I decided to take a light stroll down to the kitchen; so I could stretch my legs a little bit and try to find something to eat.

I padded my way down the hall, to the elevator and made my way into the kitchen. As I pushed the door open I was surprised to see an unfamiliar man, sitting at the island in the middle of the room, drinking a Dr. Pepper.

"Oh, sorry," I apologized, "do you want to be alone?"

He stared at me. His eyes were a rich hazel color, and beautiful. I found myself not caring that he was staring at me so obviously, even though I would have normally felt self conscious.

"No," he said, taking a sip, "you're fine."

I walked to the refrigerator and rummaged trough it, finding a nearly empty Pizza Hut box. I pulled it out and grabbed a bottle of water with my free hand.

"Mind if I join you then?"

"Go ahead,"

I sat the pizza box down on the island and pulled up a stool, sitting down across from the beautiful stranger.

We sat in silence for a few minutes, as I ate.

"Are you one of the new teachers?" I asked.

"No," he said shortly.

"Who are you exactly then?" I asked very forwardly.

He stared at me for a moment.

"I'm Logan," he finally said, taking another swish of his Dr. Pepper, "who are you?"

"I'm Annaliese,"

"What are you doing here?" He asked, taking control of the questions.

"I'm a friend of Scott and uh…Jean," I said, not wanting to fully commit to saying that I 'was' a friend of Jean's.

He stared at me once again, locking his eyes with mine.

"That's what you're here?" he asked, again very short.

"Yeah…I got a call from Scott while I was on vacation…when I got home and called him he told me."

"How did you know her?" he asked.

"We went to school together. The two of us, plus Scott and Ororo were some of the first students. They stayed but I went back home and decided to try my hand at college. I guess I just didn't come back. She spent most of her life here and gave so much back to them…it doesn't seem fair." I said, shaking my head. "Did you know her well?"

He sat silent for a moment, glaring out on of the windows.

"They brought me here a few months ago and I met her, I knew her pretty well."

"Were you there with them when…she got off of the jet?"

"Yeah,"

"Why? Why did she do it?"

"I don't know…I don't know." He slowly repeated himself, shaking his head.

The way he looked when I asked him 'why' made me think there was more to his friendship with Jean.

"Did she say anything?" I asked, taking my turn to stare at him. "Before she…I mean did she say anything before she got off of the jet?"

He moved his hand so that it covered his mouth; I could tell he was thinking very hard about that day.

"No, she left it just before the dam broke. When we realized she was gone we tried to lower the ramp," he said, pausing. He stuck out his jaw, thinking. "Then she started talking through the Professor…she said she had to do it."

"Why didn't Scott stop her?"

He cleared his throat, "Look, I don't know, you'll have to ask him that."

"Did you try?" I asked.

He glared at me through his eyebrows.

"Yes, I tried." He said in a dry, almost sarcastic tone.

I had stopped eating, I was sick to my stomach thinking about the whole situation.

I bowed my head and rested my hands on my neck as I began to cry. It felt like everything had finally caught up with me right at that moment.

I looked back up, wiping the tears from my face.

"I'm sorry, I must seem absolutely crazy." I said with a half laugh. "I just didn't expect any of this. I didn't mean to barge in on you, I'm going to go back to my room and try and sleep some of this off."

He didn't say anything, he just watched me as I went to work putting the rest of the pizza back inside the refrigerator and emptied the rest of my water into the sink and threw away the bottle. But, as I leaned up against the sink I started to cry again.

"Are you okay?" he finally asked.

"No, I just can't believe that she's gone. How could this happen? She was one of the best people I've ever known, she didn't deserve to die, and it's not fair." I blurted.

"She chose it," he said a little aggressively, in a tone that made me believe he was trying to convince himself more than me.

I spun around to face him.

"I know, but I'm selfish and I still want her here with me, whether she chose it or not."

"Was she always like that?" He asked after a minute of silence.

"Like what?" I asked, wiping more tears from my face.

"Sacrificing own self so other people could have what they needed,"

"Oh," I said, "yeah. I think she felt like she owed herself to everyone and that she had to prove herself. She was so shy when she was younger; I think she was worried about what everyone thought of her. She wanted everyone to like her, and when they did she didn't believe it. She thought they were being nice and just humoring her. She failed to see that she was actually a nice person, and wonderful and _so_ smart…she just saw the faults that people pointed out to her. She had no clue how much I admired and envied her; she was a doctor, a teacher, a wonderful wife and she still found time to fight against the courts in all of these Anti-Mutant trials. I'm lucky if I can find time to do my laundry between work and finally finishing out school. But, it was like she thought she had to keep herself busy or she wasn't doing anything right. I just wished she could have known."

"Maybe she did,"

I looked at him and studied his face. He had dark brown hair that seemed to stick up on the sides and swoop back in the middle. As I had noticed earlier his eyes were a wonderful hazel color with a stare that could knock you down. He had side burns, mutton chops, which grew down and connected to a beard that didn't quite get to his chin. I noticed the rest of him; he was wearing a gray undershirt that was tight against his chest, showing off his muscles, his arms were also built and nicely tanned.

I found myself wondering what it would be like for such a strong man to hold me in his arms. I thought about his lips, wondering if he would be a soft passionate kisser, or if he would be rough, grabbing me and doing just what he wanted?

I shamed myself for thinking such thoughts at a time like that. How could I be so shallow? Even if I didn't have a boyfriend, that wasn't the time to start. I was supposed to be mourning but instead I was lusting over a complete stranger that I had only known for around half an hour.

I decided that I really would have to go to bed at that point. My thoughts were running crazy and I tended to get out of hand when I didn't have much sleep. So, I made my way to the kitchen door, afraid that I might let sleeplessness effect my words and that I would say something that I didn't mean.

"Well, I suppose I'll see you later?" I asked.

"Yeah,"

"All right…goodnight," I said.

"Goodnight," he said as I left.

I made my way back upstairs and to my room, once again falling into my bed. But, sleep didn't come to me as quickly as it had before. I was not too tied to sleep. I also couldn't get visions of the stranger, Logan, out of my head. He felt far too familiar to me, but I wasn't sure why. I was certain that if I had met him before, I would have remembered. Soon enough though, sleep found me, and even as I was drifting between sleep and awake, all I could see was Logan.


	2. Remembering The Fallen

Disclaimer: I own pretty much none of the characters accept for Anna and her family...that's it.

Note: The title of the story, Iris, has nothing really to do with the story with the exception that it's named after the Goo Goo Dolls song, which is my favorite. I've always felt like the lyrics to the chorus fit quite well with the theme of X-Men...yeah, I have too much time on my hands, but enoy the story anyway.

I begrudgingly woke up, pried my eyes open and looked at my watch; it was nearly noon. I slowly drug myself out of bed and made myself shower and put on clothes that I was relatively sure were clean. After that I made my way downstairs, into the kitchen. I saw Scott sitting at the same island that I myself had been sitting at nearly nine hours earlier.

"Did you sleep okay?" He asked as I walked into the room.

"Yeah, pretty much." I half lied. I had slept well until I woke up, and continued sleeping well after my late night chat with the man that I had met earlier that morning.

"Good," he said, taking a large sip of his water.

"I met one of your friends last night," I said, pulling a plastic bottled container of orange juice from the refrigerator. I opened the cabinet across from me using my telekinesis. I removed a glass, and grabbed it with my hand as soon as it was within my reach, then I closed the cabinet.

"Who?" Scott asked, looking up at me, but with the tinted glasses of his, I could never be sure if he was actually _looking_ at me or not.

"Oh," I said, pouring the juice into the glass, "I think he said he name was Logan or something like that?"

He made a funny noise; almost half laugh half frustrated sigh.

"Yeah, he's not exactly what I would call one of our friends." Scott said, finishing off the water in his glass. He then moved to take the glass to the sink.

"Oh…well, he said he knew Jean pretty well and he lives here…so I just assumed…" I said, trailing off.

"No, he liked Jean, that's all there was to it."

"How come I've not heard about him before?"

"He's not really the Golden Child of the school. Magneto went after him and one of the students we have now a few months back. The Professor sent us after them and he stayed here for a few days. Then he took off for a while and came back a few days ago, just before we went off to Alkali Lake, and now he's living here."

I thought for a moment, suddenly it struck my mind that I _had_ heard about him before. Jean had told me about him because she was explaining his condition. Apparently he had metal running along and attached to all of the bones in his body. He was also the one that she had talked about being with them at Liberty Island during the meeting of the world leaders. She had told me quite a lot about him, but she did, however, forget to mention how attractive he was. She also never mentioned that he liked her. My mind was running with wild thoughts, but mostly it was the same question; Did he really like Jean or did Scott just _think_ he did? I didn't want to ask, even if the situation had been different, that's not an easy subject to talk about. So, I kept it to myself.

"We're having a memorial service for her tomorrow, in the chapel. It's going to be from three until five. You don't have to come if you don't want to, I would understand." Scott said quietly, still standing by the sink.

"No, I'll be there." I said, managing a weak, fake smile.

Everything had felt so surreal. Perhaps it was because it had happened so fast, I wasn't sure. But, it still didn't seem real, even as I stood inside the schools chapel off the side of the mansion, the very next day. I looked around at all of the pictures of Jean growing up, her papers declaring her degrees in medicine, all the candles that were lit; it all seemed so wrong and fake. It was like a bad practical joke and I was left waiting for her to jump out and yell 'Surprise!' But I was waiting for something that would never happen.

I watched as the Professor talked about her, how he had seen her grow and learn to control her powers. I watched, but I didn't really listen. His words didn't sink in. Then, he stopped. Now it was my turn. Once Scott knew that I was going to be at the service he had asked me to say something about her. I had spent almost all of that night trying to write something worthy of her greatness. I had always looked up to her, but when it came time to put it in writing what I thought, I didn't quite know how.

I left my pew and went to stand in front of the audience of people, made up mostly of students. I laid my notes down on the pulpit and cleared my throat.

"Jean was my best friend," I said, looking out across all of the kids, but at the back of the church I saw Logan sitting in a pew by himself, by the door. It seemed as if he was getting ready to make a run for it, if he needed to. I didn't blame him, I wanted to run myself. "I remember the first time we met, it was here at the school," I continued, "we were two of the first students and we shared a room together. We both we telekinetic, the same age and we both felt the same way; lost. In a world full of people who were considered 'normal' we were outsiders. All of us here were. But, together we got through it, because together we weren't different, we were normal. I also remember the day she told me she was going to school to become a doctor so she could work here at the school. I was amazed by her selflessness; she was giving so much back. I remember the day when she and Scott were married. She looked so beautiful and happy. I was so excited for her, she had worked so hard for everything for everyone else and she was finally doing something for herself. And I watched her on the news, fighting in the courts so we could all be free to live how we want. I felt bad when I would watch her because I felt like I wasn't doing enough, but I was always proud of her, no matter what. She took care of and looked out for me when I was younger, she helped me and cheered on when I got older, and she was more than supportive enough whenever I made any sort of decisions, good or bad…which was usually the majority of the time. And even though I'm sad...a little angry, and a little disbelieving that she's gone away from us so soon, I'm happy that I knew her and spent all of the time that I did with her. She was the best person I've ever known and she will always be alive in my heart."

I stepped down from behind the pulpit, tears flooding my eyes. I walked out of the chapel; I couldn't be in there while Storm spoke about her. I didn't think I could take it. But, I knew well enough that when she was through and it was time for Scott to speak I wouldn't be able to stay.

"Are you okay, darlin'?" I heard from behind me.

I was sitting in front of the chapel, on the steps. I turned my head to see Logan standing behind me.

"Yeah…I think I'll be okay," I said, dabbing the tears from my face with the tissue I had wadded into a ball with my fist.

He moved slowly from behind me, to right next to me and sat down. I saw him, from the corner of my eye, look at my clothes. I had made a poor attempt to put together and mournful outfit that I could wear to the memorial service out of the clothes that I had taken with me on vacation. I was wearing a black skirt that had a white, mod, flower pattern on it, along with a white tank top, a cropped nude colored sweater and nude ballerina flats.

He sat beside me for a while the finally asked, "Do you wanna get outta here?"

I thought about it; Should I? I'm supposed to be supporting Scott and helping him, what help would I be if I was gone? But then again, I was hurting too, so whatever idea Logan had of where to go that might help was something I deserved too…right?

"Yeah," I said, standing up, "what did you have in mind?"

I followed him as we took one of the school's cars and we drove to a place called 'Ducky's Bar'. When I asked about the name, he just told me, "Wait until you see the owner."

I walked closely behind him, I had never been to a bar before and some of the people there looked a little shady.

He went to the bar and sat down; I sat on the stool next to him, being very cautious about my skirt. I must have looked quite uncomfortable because I heard him laugh at me as he lit up a cigar and stuck in between his teeth, slowly taking a puff.

"What?" I asked, wanting to know what he thought was so amusing.

"Nothing," he said with a cocked eyebrow.

"What can I get you?" The bartender asked, coming up to Logan.

"A Fosters,"

"And what about you, miss?" The bartender asked, eyeing me.

"Water," I said quickly.

"Water?" he asked with a smirk.

"Yes, water; if ya'll have that then that's what I want. If not, I don't want anything."

"No, we got it." He said, turning and laughing.

Logan didn't say anything until after he had brought us both of our orders.

"Do you not drink?" Logan asked, tipping his bottle to take a sip.

"No,"

"Why not?"

"I tried it once when I was younger and in college but…" I paused, looking for the right way to phrase it, "more came up than I had sent down and when I woke up the next morning with the most pain I had ever felt, I realized that the pain of a hangover is probably worse than the pain I was trying to dull down in the first place."

"Makes sense," he said, taking another puff of his cigar. "But I thought you said you were still in college? That must be one heck of a major."

I laughed. "Yeah, I went for about a year, then my mom got sick and I decided to go back home and take care of her. She was sick for about four years before she died, and then my dad…committed suicide and I had to pay for his funeral all by myself and couldn't get up enough money to finish until just a couple of years ago."

"I'm sorry," he said after thinking for a minute.

"About what?"

"About your parents," he said, turning up his bottle again.

"It's okay, I've still got my grandparents for now," I said with a small, forced laugh.

"I'm sorry about being a jerk the other night, too."

"I didn't think you were being a jerk, I don't neither one of us were in too good of moods."

"I know but I didn't have to act the way I did when you were asking me questions. I know you just wanted to know what went on that day."

"It was probably for the best because now I don't really want to know." I said, taking a small sip of my water.

"I was in love with her, I did everything I could to stop and try and save her, I want you to know that."

I traced the brim of my glass with my index finger.

"Thank you," I said, looking at him with another weak smile.

"So, what are you taking in college?"

"Behavioral Psychology,"

"Wow, that must be interesting," he said sarcastically.

"I find it very interesting, actually. People make a lot of statements with how the act, I think it's fun to learn why."

"Alright, the tell me; why do I act like I do?" He said with a cocky smile.

"I can't," I said.

"C'mon,"

"Look, I don't even really know you, there's not a lot I can figure out right now.

"But you do know some, c'mon, it'll be fun."

"All right, um…" I said, facing him. "You are defensive, sarcastic and just a little bit cocky, which are all signs that you're trying to mask something, usually pain of…problems, anything you don't want other people to know about you, because you think that they'll think you're weak. You come off as very unsocial which also feeds into the whole deal about people not knowing what's going on with you. You have an animalistic quality about you, which means you probably have a short temper and you tend to solve problems by fighting, rather than talking. It also means that you're very protective of the people you're close to and you probably go after what you want, because once you get yourself focused on it, you have to have it."

"Too bad you don't know me all that well," he said with a sarcastic laugh.

I smiled, but soon I was curious about something that he had said; he told me that he was in love with Jean.

"Did you and Jean…did you ever –"

"No," he said, cutting me off.

"But, I thought that you said –"

"Jean…I was in love with her, but she was married and she chose him over me."

"I wouldn't take it too personally; she was in love with Scott since she was fourteen."

"What about you? How does your boyfriend feel about you just taking off to visit some guy?"

"I don't have a boyfriend, so I guess he doesn't mind." I said with a laugh.

"Really," he asked, raising his eyebrows, "why not?"

"Why? Because…I'm not exactly the perfect catch, I'm thirty-seven, still in college, working a time consuming job, and trying to pay off my parent's funerals. When I do have time off I'm usually at my grandparent's house trying to help them out…and being _what_ I am, it's hard to find someone who doesn't care and can realize that I'm not some dangerous freak, or something…I don't know." I said, taking another sip of my water.

"How did you get time off to come here, then?" His questions seem to focus on the odd parts of my statements.

"I actually got fired…because my boss found out about me."

He nodded his head quietly and took another sip of his beer.

"What about you?" I asked, "Why don't you have a girlfriend…aside from the fact that you were in love with Jean? Which, may I add; you're not the first person who's fallen in love after meeting her, because I've seen quite a few guys chase after her."

"Same as you, I guess, not really someone that you want to get involved with."

I laughed out loud on accident.

"Well, I'm glad you find that funny." He said tipping his beer up and taking a long drink.

"No, it's just…you're not…half bad looking, I have a hard time believing that you would have a difficult time getting a woman to go out with you. I don't think that that's the problem." I said. "There must be something more than just 'not wanting to get involved' with you."

"Well, my problems seem to get in the way."

"What problems?"

"I only remember the past sixteen years of my life, what happened before was pretty unclear until the past week we went to Alkali Lake. But, everything's still not clear."

"What do you remember?" I asked.

"Waking up in a forest in Canada, completely naked, not having a clue who I was except for a dog tag I was wearing around my neck that said Wolverine. That's it."

"Isn't a wolverine and animal?" I asked.

"Yeah," he said, tipping his head and draining the last of his beer from the bottle.

"I don't get it, why did it have the name of an animal on it?"

"Because that's what I am, an animal," he said, pulling out his wallet and paying for his beer. "Are you ready to leave?"

"Yeah," I said, standing from my stool.

We walked back to the car in silence, once we were in and making our way back to the school, I said; "I still don't get it."

"Get what?"

"How are you an animal?"

"You said it; I have an 'animalistic quality' about me."

"But I didn't call you an animal; I just meant you had qualities like them."

He cracked a grin. "I know."

He slowly pulled off the main road onto a smaller road, which was most likely used for teenagers wanting to make out. The car was completely hidden from where we were parked.

He turned the engine off and suddenly I saw four metal blade emerge from his hands, right by his knuckles.

"Holy!" I managed to scream, as the quickness scared me. "You could have warned me!"

He smiled at me again.

"This is why you're Wolverine, because you have claws?"

"The rest of my senses are like theirs."

"But doesn't it take a long time to heal?" I asked confused.

He slowly slid his claws back into his hand, careful not to scare me once more. I watched as the open wounds that they had left behind began to heal in front of me, and soon enough there was no evidence that anything had ever come from his hands.

"Does it hurt?"

"Yeah…"

I absent mindedly grabbed his hand and ran my fingers over his knuckles. His hands were strong and rough. I loved how they felt. Soon I realized what I was doing and quickly let go.

"Sorry," I said, turning my head, embarrassed.

But he grabbed my head and turned it back around to face him, forcefully pressing his lips to mine. He wasn't anything like I thought he would be like and yet everything I had hoped; He was rough and passionate and some how soft, but I still felt like he was doing just what he wanted with me. It had been so long since I had even kissed a man I didn't really care. We had only been kissing for a few moments when he pulled away abruptly.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"You're not Jean,"

"No, I'm not," I said, leaning back in my seat, "I'm not going to be, no one's ever going to be."

"I know."

"Do you, or was that the whole point of this?"

"The whole point of what?" he asked, slightly frustrated.

"This," I said, motioning around me at the trees we were hidden behind, "did you pull off here to show me your hands or to see if you could find Jean by kissing me?"

"Look, you asked a question about me and I showed you the answer, that's why we're sitting here. You grabbed my hand, not the other way around."

"Maybe I wanted to kiss you,"

"Did you? Because I'm not Scott either,"

"And what's that supposed to mean?"

"It's supposed to mean that I've seen how you look at him, you follow him around, pretending to comfort him when you want nothing more than for him to forget all about her and pay attention to you. That's what you've always wanted, isn't it?"

"No, it's not. Scott is one of my friends, I've known him since I was fourteen and I'm sorry if you get the wrong impression of me but what I want is for this whole thing to have never happened."

"Which whole thing?" he asked.

"Both,"

"I thought you said you wanted to kiss me? You've changed your mind pretty quickly."

"Well, perhaps my thinking has been impaired by the recent events."

"I don't think so; you still want to kiss me,"

"Maybe so, but why should you care, I'm not her?"

Once again he grabbed my face and pulled me towards him, pressing his lips to mine more forcefully than before. He kissed me more passionately than any man had every kissed me. I felt it all over me; my lips, my fingers, all the way down to my toes. I had never felt so connected or alive. He pulled away, but more slowly, leaving his hand resting on the side of my face.

"We should get back, it's getting late." I said. I didn't know what he just happened.

"We're not kids, we're allowed out after dark," he said kissing me once more.

"I know, but I need to get back."

"So you can see Scott?" He asked.

I jerked away from him, sitting properly in my seat once more and strapping on my seat belt.

"I'd rather see him than you," I blurted.

"I bet," he said, turning the car back on. He turned around and we drove back onto the main road.

"I don't know who you think you are but you have no right to talk to me that way,"

"What way?" he asked.

"By implying that I have any sort of feelings for Scott other than that of a friend; we're both mourning over someone we lost and while I'm trying to be somewhat of a comfort to him, you come along and completely contort and misconstrue everything about the two of us."

"Why don't you just cut the crap, okay?"

"What are you talking about?"

"You think you have everyone figured out and that you see what no one else does about people, well guess what darlin'? I've got you figured out as well."

"Really, do you?" I asked sarcastically.

"You use words and try and cover up what's going on. You smooth it over by acting like you know what you're talking about. Then, you pull away when someone tries to give you what you want, because you're scared of someone seeing what you're trying to hide."

"And what's that, what am I trying to hide, what is it that I don't want anyone to see?"

"You don't want people to see what you want and who you are,"

"And you know what I want?"

"You want me,"

I was extremely frustrated with him. On one level he was way out of line with what he was saying, he didn't know me, but on another level I knew he was right and it scared me. But, I laughed.

"You don't even know me, so what you think about me is your own problem, not mine."

That's when I saw the semi-truck coming around the curve, taking the turn much wider than it should have. I watched in horror as the large bed of the truck swung out. Logan tried to stir the car away, but it still hit the driver's side and sent the car flying into a tree. The airbags exploded and filled with air, smacking into my face which was thrown closer to the dashboard by the impact.

I gasped for breath as the wind was knocked out of me. As I became more aware of myself I pushed the airbag out of the way, trying to see if the car was on fire. As I looked out the broken windshield, I saw that the front of the car was completely smashed in. My legs were trapped between the floor and the dashboard. I could feel them but I was fairly sure that at least one of them was broken.

I fumbled with my hands, trying to unbuckle my seat belt. But as I looked my side I saw that Logan wasn't in his seat. I pushed the airbag down further to see that his had not worked and he was sent out the window, onto the ground. I saw him stand up and watched as the large gash on his right cheek healed.

"Are you all right?" He yelled to me.

"I think my legs are broken," I called back, "but I can't feel them."

He walked around the tree that we had crashed into, over to the passenger's side of the car. He yanked open my door and looked at me.

"Can you move?" he asked.

I tried moving my body, turning towards Logan, but my legs were trapped and wouldn't move.

"They're stuck," I said, gritting my teeth as the feeling in my legs rushed back, a sharp, hot pain rushed over my body.

He moved back and shot out the claws from his left hand. He then attacked the dashboard, ripping out it pieces and removing it.

"Can you move them now?" He asked as his metal claws slide back into his hands.

I used all of the energy that I had and moved my legs outside of the car. I tried stand and found that in fact my right leg _was_ broken. Even though my left leg hurt badly, I shifted my weight onto it in hopes that I wouldn't further damage myself. I tried to take a step, but my legs buckled and I nearly fell. Logan caught me and stood me back up.

"My right leg's broken, there's no way I can walk on it." I said.

He grabbed my arm and slung it over his neck and helped me hobble to the road. We both stared at the semi-truck which had stopped. The driver inside was looking out his window at us, shaking. He was more than likely in shock, I thought.

He slowly stepped out of the truck and made his way over to us, very slowly.

"You…you're alive!" He stammered, pointing at Logan. He just stared back. "I saw you fly out of the windshield, hit the tree and fall to the ground and you don't even have a scratch on you!"

"I didn't hit anything too hard, I'm fine." He lied.

"No, the way you flew out and hit that tree…it should have broken your neck!"

"Is there anyway you can call for help? My leg's broken and our car is wrecked, there's no way we can get out of her." I asked.

"I've got a C.B. radio in the truck that I just called on, I thought this fella' was dead."

"Okay, how long is it going to take?"

"About half an hour I think, miss."

"I need to sit down," I said to Logan. I was getting dizzy and not feeling well. I looked down to see blood pouring from my left calf. "I'm bleeding pretty badly."

Logan ushered me back to the car and I sat sideways with my feet on the ground. I watched as he took off his leather jacket and then removed his long sleeved, plaid, button up shirt and ripped it into small strips. He proceeded to bend down and wipe the blood from my leg, checking how bad of a gash it was. It was around one inch wide, three inches long, and a quarter of an inch deep. He carefully cleaned it the best he could before he began to wrap a strip of the shirt around my leg. Soon he had covered the entire wound and tied it off.

"Here, put this on," he said, handing me his leather jacket. The fall weather was turning cold.

"No, you need it," I protested.

"If I needed it I wouldn't have told you to put it on." He argued back.

I pulled the jacket on and relished in it much larger size, as it covered the upper part of my legs as well.

"Are you okay, ma'am?" The truck driver asked, walking over to the demolished car.

"I think so," I said. But, I was much dizzier than I had been just minutes before and I realized that I was losing consciousness.


	3. Discovering A Familiar Stranger

Disclaimer: I own none of the X-Men characters, although I wouldn't mind owning me some Wolverine. Rawr...yeah, sorry...I'm a dork, enjoy the story.

I woke up to the sound of machines beeping, whirling and hissing. My eyes soon fluttered open and I became more aware of my surroundings. I was in a hospital bed, in a hospital room.

"Hey," I heard someone say. My eyes scanned the room, I saw Logan sitting in a chair beside my bed.

"Hey," I managed to reply weakly, "what happened?"

"You passed out; they said it was from lack of blood. You had some pretty deep cuts on your arms and your forehead, too."

"How long have I been here?"

"Almost a day,"

"Have you been here with me the whole time?"

"Yeah," he said, pausing. "I'm sorry."

"Why?" I asked.

"I should have been paying more attention to driving instead arguing with you."

"You should have been wearing your seat belt." I said with a laugh.

"I didn't mean what I said yesterday."

"Forget about, it's fine." I said, not wanting to start another argument, even if it did start as an apology. "How long do I have to be stuck here?"

"A few more days," he said, adjusting himself in his seat.

"What are we doing?" I asked after a bit of silence.

"Sitting in a hospital room," he said.

I let out a small laugh. "That's not what I meant. I mean what are _we_ doing, what's going on between us?"

"We've only know each other for four days, I don't think there is anything going on."

"Okay, I just wanted to know." I said, the pain medication catching up with me, as I fell back to sleep.

I was released from the hospital after a week and went back to the mansion. Logan helped me out of the car, handed me my crutches, and followed beside me as I hobbled inside. Scott greeted us at the door, giving me a hug.

"You scared me, Anna,"

"I'm sorry; I know this hasn't been an easy couple of weeks,"

"I would have gone crazy if I had lost you, too." He whispered in my ear as he hugged me tightly.

"I'm okay, I'm right here." I whispered back to him.

It was past two in the morning and I couldn't sleep. The pain in my leg was bothering me, not to mention that the cast was itchy. And considering the cool, fall weather, I was un-naturally hot. So, I decided to go down to the living room and watch TV. I got out of bed, grabbing my crutches, and made my way out of my room. As I was hobbling down the hall, I heard a door open.

"Hey, where are you going?" I heard a deep voice growl from behind me. I turned as quickly as I could, given my current state, to see Logan leaning against his door frame.

"Down stairs to watch TV,"

"Can you not sleep?"

"No, I set my alarm clock for two-thirty in the morning so I can fit in the infomercials that I miss during the day." I said sarcastically. "This stupid cast is bothering me beyond belief."

"Only six more weeks," he said with a cockeyed grin.

"Shut up, you should have been in a full body cast and then I would have laughed at you."

"The TV's not going to help ya sleep,"

"I know, but it'll give me something to do while I'm awake."

"Let me show you something that'll help." He said, exiting his room and coming to my side.

"I don't need any help," I said as he offered his arm to me.

He walked beside me as I slowly made my way to the elevator. We both walked into it, and my stomach dropped as the elevator made its way down two stories.

"So, what is this that you're going to show me?" I asked as we stepped out into the first floor hall.

"You'll see," he said.

I followed him through the quiet school. Memories of my own teenage years played in my mind like a home video. They seemed so close and yet so distant from me. I was a different person than when I had first come there. Soon we were at the double door as the very back of the school, which led out into a small garden area. Logan unlocked and opened one of the doors, stepping out onto the grass.

"I can't go out there, I'm barefoot." I said.

"I am too, and it's only one of your feet, c'mon."

I sighed loudly but followed him anyway. I followed him past a small water fountain over to a spot beside a rather small tree. I watched as he lied down on a patch of grass.

"Are you serious, this is what you had to show me; the Professor's garden?"

"Shut up and lay down,"

I did as he said, and with a small bit of help from him, lay down beside him.

"I haven't done this since I was a teenager," I said.

"I walked out here one night in my sleep, and I woke up looking up at everything. I sleep better after being out here for a while."

"I don't know if I've ever been out here at night before. But, it is beautiful; it reminds me of the south a little bit."

"I'm leaving tomorrow?"

"Why?" I asked, looking over at him.

"I told you about Stryker, didn't I?"

"Yeah, but I thought he died in the flood?"

"He did," Logan told me as he continued to look up at the sky, "but he had to have left something behind about his experiments, I need to find it."

"How long will you be gone?" I asked, now turning my gaze by to the night sky.

"Probably two or three months,"

"What if you don't find anything, will you just keep looking?"

"I'll come back here and see if the Professor won't help me anymore." He said. "Will you be here when I get back?"

"I don't know, I just came here to help Scott out, but I seem to be doing more harm than good." I said with a laugh.

We both laid there in silence for a while, and I'm not quite sure what Logan said next because I fell asleep out in the garden.

I woke up the next morning in my bed; Logan must have carried me up there. As I laid there thinking about him, I remembered he said he was leaving that day. I stumbled out of bed, and with a bit of effort, I pulled on some clean clothes then made me way into the hall once more. As I was hopping along, I saw Logan emerge from his room with a bag slung over his shoulder.

"Are you leaving now?" I asked.

"Yeah, I was gonna tell Rouge bye and then head out."

"Well…be careful and I hope that you find what you're looking for." I said.

He stood there for a moment then walked up to me and gave me a small kiss.

"I guess I'll see you when I get back, if you're still here."

"Yeah, okay," I said as he gave me another kiss, "just please be very careful."

"I will." He said. Then I watched him walk away.

Two months later I received a phone call that my grandfather had died, so I caught a plane home to attend his funeral. Then I went to my grandparent's house to help my grandmother clean it out. She was going to sell it and move into a retirement home. So, we both say in her attic cleaning out box after box, deciding what to sell and what to keep.

"So, tell me about this man you've met, is he a good one?" She asked as I opened a box full of my grandfather's Army and war stuff.

"There is no man," I said shyly.

"Oh, don't tell me that, I know there's a man. You're happy and glowing. You've been thinking a lot about him this week."

"We met when I went back to New York for my friend Jean's memorial service. He just someone that's at the school, he helps out with the kids."

"Why didn't you bring him down with you?"

"He went to Canada a couple of months ago,"

"He didn't ask you to go with him?" My grandmother pushed.

"No, we didn't know each other that long before he left. Besides, it was personal business he had to go work out and I would have just gotten in the way."

"Did he say that or you?"

"Me but…this was something I knew he had to do on his own."

"What's his name?"

"Logan," I said.

We both sat quietly for a moment, looking through each of our boxes. I pulled out a photo of my grandfather in his service uniform. The picture was folded down the middle and very old, but my grandmother had taken good care of it and it was still clear. I unfolded it, expecting to see one of his friends from the service, but instead who I saw surprised me. I dropped the photo and let out a small gasp.

"What is it, honey?" My grandmother asked.

I tried to remain calm, "There was a spider on this picture," I lied, picking up the photo and handing it to her. "Who is that with grandpa?"

"Oh, that's just one of his old war buddies; I think the even shared a foxhole together."

"What was his name?"

"I don't rightly remember, actually. But I do know that he was one of them…mutants. Your grandpa said he would get cut and shot at and there would never be a scar nor scratch on him. They might call him a mutant but I think he made a bargain with the Devil."

The man in the picture, with his arm around my grandfather's shoulder, smiling back at me, was Logan. I was so confused, how could he be in that picture? It was taken during World War Two. He looked as if he was only in his thirties to me, it just didn't add up. But, she had said he was a mutant, and she would remember that; she hated mutants. That's why my family never told her or my grandfather about me. She also said that he never got hurt, he could rejuvenate, it had to be Logan, I just didn't understand how.

"Was grandpa close to him?" I managed to ask.

"To begin with, they were the only two married in their troop. They were both so young, neither of them were in their twenties yet -"

"He was married?" I asked, cutting her off.

"I'm fairly sure," she said, "why?"

"Just wondering," I lied, "they _were_ both so young…they were still kids."

"Honey, is there something wrong?" She asked, looking at me.

There was, there was something terribly wrong.

"Something bad is happening…" I said staring off into the attic.

"Anna, what are you talking about?"

A sharp hot pain ran through my body, one like I had never felt. My hands felt like they were on fire, right at my knuckles.

"Something's wrong with Logan," I said, a tear escaping my eye and running down my cheek.

"I'm calling an ambulance; I'll be right back sweetie." My grandmother said, turning to leave the attic as I fell to the floor, doubled over in pain.

I felt like I was being cut and stabbed, but there was no blood. My vision soon blurred and I found myself looking through someone else's eyes. I couldn't see him, but I knew that I was seeing, and feeling, what Logan was seeing and feeling.

I woke up in a hospital bed and saw my grandmother pacing the floor in front of me. She looked over and saw that I was awake.

"Are you okay, sweeties?" She asked, coming to the side of my bed and sitting down.

"No, I need a phone, I've got to call the school and talk to the Professor."

"Just lie down; everything's going to be okay,"

"No, I need to talk to the Professor, I need to know if Logan's okay."

"Shush, everything's fine, I'll get you the phone." She said, handing me the pea green phone and base receiver. My fingers shook as I died the numbers to the mansion.

"Hello?"

"Professor, this is Annaliese, I need to –"

"Hello Anna, are you feeling better?"

"Yes, but I need to know about Logan, do you know if he's okay?"

"You felt that tremor too? Logan's fine, he's on his way back from Canada as we speak."

"What tremor are you talking about?"

"It's not safe to speak on the phone; we'll speak more of it when you return, I'll tell you all about it then."

"I wasn't planning on coming back,"

"May I make a proposition? You're out of a job and we need another teacher. By this summer you should be able to take course at a university here in the city, if you like. You won't have to be alone anymore."

I thought about it for a while, since Jean had died they were short a teacher and it would be much better for me to live there. Almost all of my own family was gone and my grandmother was soon going to be in a retirement home. They were my family, too. Scott, Ororo, the Professor…Logan. I could do something to help give back to the Professor, give the kids that were there what he had given me when I was a teenager; Hope, family, faith, a life.

"Thank you, Professor." I said. I didn't have to say yes, he already knew what my decision was.

"We will see you here soon, then?" He asked.

"Yes, I'll be there by tomorrow," I said with a smile.

"All right then, goodbye."

"Bye,"

"Where will you be by tomorrow?" My grandmother asked as I hung up the phone.

"Back at school in New York,"

"Why are you going back? I thought you were going to stay here and finish college?"

"The Professor offered me a job with them; I can work there and then go to college in the summer. I should be done in three more years, but this way I'll have I job I know I won't lose."

"But you're not a teacher,"

"I know, but there will be something I can do there,"

"And that boy, Logan, he lives there too?"

I laughed; he was probably older than her.

"Yes grandma, he works there, too."

"Will he be there when you get back?"

"I don't know, the Professor said he was on his way back from Canada right now, but I don't know what part he was in."

"Well…you need to tell him how you feel about him."

"What are you talking about?"

"You need to tell him that you're in love with him."

"I'm not in love with him!" I said.

"Sweetheart, I was in love with your grandfather since the day I met him, I know what love looks like."

"You don't understand, this is different,"

"What's there to understand? You're in love, you should tell him. That's how it works. I may be old but I think love's still the same as it used to be."

"He's the man in the photo." I blurted.

"What man in what photo? I'm not following you, sweetheart."

"The man in the picture with grandpa, from World War Two, the one that we were looking at and I was asking you about, the one you said," I dropped my voice into a hushed whisper, "the one you said was a mutant, that's Logan."

"You're dating a ninety year old mutant?" My grandmother asked with a panicked and confused tone.

"No…I mean yes…I think. He doesn't _look_ ninety; he's barely aged since the photo was taken. He looks about fifteen years older."

"How is that possible?" She asked, shocked.

"His powers are so that he can heal fast and rejuvenate; he doesn't stay hurt and barely ages."

"How can you date a mutant? They're evil, dangerous people,"

"No they're not,"

"Yes they are, I've seen them before, Anna, and they're all bad."

"Some of them are evil and dangerous, but so are some normal humans."

"No, they're vile, filthy, evil creature."

"No we're not, not all of us. Some are mean, evil people, but there are a few of us that are good and help protect people."

"What do you mean 'we', Anna?" She asked, starting to grasp what I was saying.

My eyes filled with tears, "I'm sorry grandma, I never told you because I know how much you hate us, and I didn't want to disappoint you."

"No, no…" she said, getting up from my bed and back away from me, "this isn't right, you're lying to me, why are you doing this to me? It's not funny!"

"I'm not lying," I said, getting out of my hospital bed.

"Yes you are, no one in my family is part of those disgusting creatures, no one!"

"Grandma, please, just_ listen_ to me,"

"No, stay away from me!" she screamed.

"Please don't do this to me," I begged, "you're all I have left."

"No, you are evil and you're not part of my family," she said, leaving my hospital room. That was the last time I saw her. I would call to check on her every once in a while but she died a year later.

After signing myself out of the hospital I went back to my house and packed most of my clothes and things that I wanted for myself right then. I went into each room knowing that it would be the last time I saw the house that I had grown up in. I went into my parent's room and sat on their bed. My mother had died in the very bed, with me right beside her. My father had shot himself there, clinging to a picture of our family. I would have the rest of my things sent to me later, and then I would set up an estate sale from New York to sell the house to use the money for college. Even though there were some sad memories in that house, they were mine and I was sad that I had to let them go but relived all at the same time. I had to leave; my plane was going to take off in half an hour. So, I said goodbye to the small southern town that I had grown up in, and made my way back to my new home in New York.


	4. Pulling Back The Veil

It was starting to get dark as I pulled up to the mansion with Scott. He helped me carry my bags and suitcases inside. We carried them to my room, and I unpacked and began putting my things away. I was nearly done when I heard a knock on my door.

"Come in," I said, sliding my empty suitcases underneath my bed and going to hang up my sweaters in the closet.

"Anna?" I turned around to see Ororo standing in my door way.

"Hey," I said, turning my attention back to my clothes.

"There's some bad news…" she said, trailing off.

"Oh dear, that's the last thing I need," I said, returning my attention back to her once more, lying my sweaters on my bed.

"It's Logan,"

"I knew something was wrong,"

"He encountered someone, another mutant, like Rouge. They're capable of taking another mutant's powers when they touch the other mutant's bare skin with their own,"

"That's who he was fighting with, wasn't it? Is he going to be okay? I mean…is he still alive?"

"Yes, he's still alive, but it'll be away before he's completely okay. He's here now, if you want to see him, but he's not awake."

"Yeah, where is he?" I asked.

"He's in his room," she said.

"Thank you," I said as I passed Storm, walked into the hall and down to Logan's door. It was open slightly, so I pushed it open and saw Logan lying in his bed, unconscious. The Professor was sitting beside his bed.

"Why did you tell me he was okay?" I asked, stepping into the room.

"Because I didn't want you to worry,"

"But he's not okay," I said, moving close to Logan's bed and pulling a chair up on the side opposite of the Professor. "I knew something was wrong, I saw it…I felt it."

"You felt a tremor,"

"What's a tremor?"

"Sometimes our psychic abilities not only allow us to see something, but to feel it as well. It doesn't happen very often but when it does they can be very strong."

"But I'm not psychic, how did this happen to me?"

"I've been having a feeling for a while and I think that this has proven it; when Jean died she passed her powers onto you, that's what you felt today."

"What, I didn't think you could pass powers onto other people when you died?"

"It's not something that happens all the time, but every once in a while there are a few people who are capable of doing it, I believe that Jean was one of them."

"Why did she give them to me then, why not Scott?"

"Because Scott wouldn't know how to use them, there's something she wanted you to know."

"What?"

"I'm not sure yet." He said.

We both sat quietly for a while. I wondered if I should ask him the question that was burning in my mind; he already knew what I was thinking. But, I decided to anyway.

"Professor, do you know what happened to Logan before he lost his memory?"

"Some, yes, but I'd rather not be the one that told you. I think it would be best if he told you, when he's remembered it himself."

"He knew my grandfather; they fought in World War Two together. My grandmother said he was married."

"He was, but she died during the war giving birth to their baby, who died as well." My heart was hurting; he had lost a family that he couldn't remember. "It's up to you what you do with this information, but I suggest that you don't tell him. I'm afraid his mind might not be stable enough to handle it a second time. It nearly killed him, and so did he, the first time it happened."

"He needs you to help him," I said.

"No Anna, he _wants_ me to help him, he _needs_ to find out in his own time."

"But it's not fair for us to know more about his life than he does."

"I assure you that he remembers much more than what he's told you."

"What am I supposed to do?" I asked. "I mean, I do…I care a lot about him, I really do, but what would happened if we dated, or even got married…sooner or later I'm going to look much older than him, and he would probably out live me. And what if we had children, he would probably outlive this as well. He would lose his family all over again. But then…the thought of ever having to leave him overwhelms me, and scares me."

"It's very normal Anna, to feel how you do. By now most woman your age are already married with families of their own, but you've spent so much of your life taking care of yours you haven't had a chance to experience everything. Logan may feel very comfortable, but I would search how you truly feel about him and decide if that's what you want to feel for the rest of your life. After all, it is for better or worse, and no seems to be one of the 'worse'."

For the first time since I had entered the room I looked at Logan, really looked at him. He was shirtless, with the blankets pulled up around him. He had blood soaked bandages on his forehead, left arm, right shoulder and wrapped around both of his hands.

"When will he be better?" I asked.

"By tomorrow sometime, I'm sure."

"Will he be okay then? I mean, he's fine, right?"

"You have nothing to worry about Anna; he's going be perfectly okay."

"Good," I said, a small tear falling down my cheek.

"I'll leave you with him for now, goodnight." The Professor said as he rolled out of the room in his electric wheelchair.

"Thank you, good night." I said back, before he closed the door.

I debated whether to leave or stay with him. My mind was reeling; things seemed to have spun so far out of control for me in the three months. But, the longer I sat there, staring at Logan, the more I couldn't move. I would stay there until he was awake and I knew he was okay.

"Hey Logan, can you hear me? It's Anna, I'm here. I really missed you. I need you to wake up and be okay, yeah? Because I can't take anymore pain. I can still feel you...inside of me. I can feel you, and your pain. My hands still burn. I would gladly feel this way every single day if you promise not to hurt me? I know that you're hurting, too. You can't remember much of who you were, or your family, but I want to help you. I want to take all of your pain away. Please let me. Let me hold you, let me touch you, let me understand, let me in. Just let me be with you. I want you to hear me." I said, knowing that he couldn't.

After sitting and watching him his motionless body for nearly an hour, I got up from my chair to retrieve a blanket from his closest. The overwhelming smell of cigars and cheap whiskey as I opened the door nearly brought tears to my eyes. We led such terribly different lives, how could I ever keep up with him? He was so much faster and my life seemed stagnate. I pulled the fleece blanket down from the top of the closet and returned back to my chair, watching him. I slowly drifted into a fitful sleep. Dreams of being chased in snow covered woods filled my mind. I was scared, but not for myself, for someone else. I was running; my chest felt like it was burning. I stopped and listened, my hearing was amazing. There were three of them. I knew I could take them on if it came down to it. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a flash of light and felt a searing pain in my chest. I had been shot and one of them had shot me. It didn't take too long before the pain seized and I watched as the blood soaked bullet hit the ground, painting the crisp white snow a bright shade of red. I was pissed. One of them came at me, it was a man. Another sharp pain ran through my hands, as I stabbed the man with my claws, digging them deep inside of hem, making sure he was dead before extracting them. Another man lunged at me, picking me up and throwing me nearly thirty feet. I got back on my feet and quickly shook the feeling of loss of breath, taking a run at the man with my claws, wanting to sink them into his flesh. Then he shot me, at my shoulder. The pain was bad but I knew it would stop soon, so I kept running at him. I saw a woman come from the woods. BAM! Another gun shot, to my stomach this time, more pain. BAM! Another shot, barely grazing my arm. BAM! A shot that passed me. My pace wasn't quite as fast but I finally reached the man, raking my claws through his gun and then piercing his chest with them. I had barely pulled them from his body when I felt an ice cold hand against the skin on my fact. My breathing stopped. I looked to see a beautiful woman taking my powers away. She let go of my face, but my whole body was cold now, as I lay in the show. Then she bent over me, and I saw the rock in her hand. I watched, unable to move, as she brought it down to my forehead. But, as I was there, I wasn't scared to die, I was sad because I hadn't been able to see Ana again.

I woke up; sitting up straight in my chair, my breath was hard. I looked at Logan's body in the dimly lit room, was that what had happened to him? Was that the dream he was having at the same time as me? I sat, catching my breath. I checked my watch; it was almost six in the morning. I moved closer and sat on his bed beside him. I ran my hand over his face and down his chest. I picked up his bandaged hand and kissed it. I had never wanted anything more than I had wanted him in that moment. I wanted to keep him forever. But, I knew that if I told him that he would probably say something sarcastic, with his beautiful, coy smile, and just laugh. I sat there for what seemed like forever, then walked to the window, pulled back the curtains and watched the snow fall to the ground. I had always loved that about living at the school, the snows were wonderful. Sometimes at night Jean, Scott, Ororo and I would sneak outside and have snow ball fights. A tear fell down my cheek, I missed Jean so much.

"Uh…that's a bright light, darlin'." I heard a voice mumble behind me. I turned around and saw Logan lying in bed, awake. I closed the curtains and walked over to him.

"Hey," I said as he sat up in his bed. I ran my fingers through his hair.

"Hey," he said back, stopping my hand on his cheek and kissing the inside of my wrist.

"How do you feel?"

"Like crap,"

"Sorry," I said with a smile, "you scared me."

"I know,"

"I thought you were gone,"

"You're not that lucky," he said with a weak laugh.

"Who were those people?"

"What people?"

"The ones that did this to you," I said, running my hand over the bandage on his forehead.

"Some of Stryker's experiments,"

"Why did they go after you like that?"

"I guess I pissed them off," he said with a small chuckle.

"I miss you," I said, wanting to tell him about the picture that I had found of him, and about his family.

He looked up at me and pulled my hand away from his face and kissed it. "It's been a long couple of months," he said.

I opened my mouth to tell him, but I couldn't find the right words. Maybe I wasn't supposed to tell him, maybe the Professor was right and he needed to remember it in his own time.

"What have you done to me?" I asked him instead. He looked up at me with a confused look on his face. "You have all of my thoughts messed up, and whenever I look at someone I see you. Nothing seems right with you."

"Nothing _has_ been right these past weeks,"

"I know, but with you I felt like there was something solid that I could count on, I want you to be that for me."

"I can't promise that I'm going to be there, though. Right now I'm trying to get my things taken care of."

"I'll help you; I can do whatever you want me to,"

"I don't have a lot of time to spend,"

"I don't care; I just have to be with you when you do have time. I spent all of last night and some of this morning trying to figure out how I could be without you, but I can't. I don't want to be like this, I never have been. I've never needed anyone, but you're inside my head now and I can't get you out."

"There's nothing I have that I can promise you, I don't have anything."

"I don't care about things Logan, just you,"

"Anna," he said, I had never heard him say my name. He usually called me 'darlin' if anything. I loved the way he said it. "I don't want you to get hurt; I'm not always here,"

"I'll go with you," I said, cutting him off.

"That's not what I mean…I'm used to being on my own; sometimes I get wrapped up in what I'm looking for."

I looked into his eyes, "Don't give me excuses, if this isn't what you want than just tell me," I said, before he pulled me closer to him, cutting me off as he pushed his lips to mine, kissing me.

"This is what I want," he whispered as he pulled his lips slowly from mine, smiling. "Will you let me give you what you want now?"

"You're what I want, I told you that." I said, smiling back at him.

"Good, you can have me then," he said, pulling me into another kiss.

Within the next two months I began teaching at school. For someone who had never taught before, I was actually quite good. The teenagers really opened up to me and helped me out a lot. Scott had improved, and as a whole the mansion seemed to be much happier than it had been when I had arrived that fall. That was during the day, though, during the night I was have terrible nightmares. I would see water rushing at me, I could feel the pressure pushing me away and I could feel myself trying to find the surface to get air. But, I would start to feel cold and then wake up in a cold sweat, knowing that it must have been how Jean died.

They say that drowning is the most peaceful way to die, that it becomes very natural, but every time I would have that dream I would wake up completely scared out of my mind. I didn't tell anyone about it, until one night when the cold feeling lasted too long, and I could feel it getting dark. I woke up, screaming, to find my whole room shaking. I gasped for breath as I tried to understand what had happened. My door flung open, just as I had gotten my room to stop shaking, and Logan came running in with Scott and soon Ororo was standing in my doorway.

"Anna, are you okay?" Scott asked as Logan grabbed me and held me to keep from shaking.

"I don't know, I was having a nightmare and when I woke up my room was shaking and I was screaming." I said, clinging to Logan.

"What kind of nightmare was it?" Ororo asked, stepping into my room. Now there were students crowding around my door to see what was happening. "Go back to bed kids, everything's fine."

Scott closed the door, walked back to my bed and sat in the chair next to it. Storm followed, sitting on the edge of my bed.

"It's one I've been having for a while; it's never been this bad before, though." I said, Logan stroking my hair, trying to calm me.

"What's it of?" Scott pushed; I didn't want to tell him.

"I think it's of what happened to Jean,"

"What do you mean?" Storm asked.

"I've been having dreams of people, but seeing it from their point of view. Like when you were attacked in Canada, Logan, I had a dream about what happened. I could feel what you were feeling, I knew what you were thinking, and now I've been having this dream about Jean, that I'm her. I see the water and it comes towards me. I can feel it as I'm swept up in it, but then I start to feel cold and wake up."

"How long have you been having it?" Scott asked.

"On and off for the past two months, but probably consistently for the past three or four nights."

"What was different tonight that made you scream and your room shake like that?" he asked.

"It was lasting too long. I usually wake up just as it starts to get cold, but tonight everything turned dark and I couldn't tell which way was up or down and I got scared."

"How could you be dreaming about what other people have seen?" Ororo asked.

"Xavier thinks that when Jean died she gave her psychic abilities to me."

"That's possible?" Logan asked.

"Apparently only very few people have been able to do it."

"No offense, Anna, but why you and not me?" Scott asked. "Are you sure that that's what's going on, can't you just be having nightmares or something?"

"That's what I asked; the Professor also seems to think that she was trying to tell me something."

"That's why she's sent you these dreams?" Storm asked.

"I don't know,"

We all sat in silence for quite a while before Scott said; "Why don't we all just go back to bed and we can talk about it tomorrow? We're not going to be able to think clearly without any sleep."

"That's a good idea," Storm said, standing up from my bed and following Scott to the door. Then she paused and turned back again to me. "Would you like me to stay with you tonight?"

"I've got it, Storm, I'm gonna stay here with her." Logan answered for me.

"All right, goodnight Anna, Logan,"

"Goodnight Ororo and Scott, and thank ya'll for trying to help."

She smiled, shutting the door behind her. The only light was from the lamp on my bedside dresser, which I must have turned on during my nightmare when my room was shaking.

"Are you gonna be able to sleep anymore?" Logan asked, loosening his embrace and looking down at me.

"Yeah, I'll be fine. You can go back to you room and sleep if you want," I said, shivering.

"No, I'm gonna stay here with you." He said, lying me down and covering me back up. He kissed me on the forehead, then went to my closet and pulled out a blanket and covered me with it. He sat in the chair Scott had been sitting in earlier. I watched and he stared at me. I knew I would be safe from anyone with him, but what was happening to me wasn't from someone he could stop. It was all in my head and I think that bothered him, that there was something he couldn't protect me from.

I turned off my lamp and curled up into my bed and tried once more to fall back to sleep.

BEEP, BEEP, BEEP! I heard from my alarm clock. I turned it off and rolled over in bed and saw Logan sitting in my chair. I had almost forgotten about what had happened that night.

"Did you sleep any?" I asked sitting up, swinging my feet around and setting them on the floor.

"No," he said, adjusting himself in his chair, "did you sleep okay?"

"Yeah, but I need to get ready, my first class is at eight forty-five." I said. "I really, really appreciate you staying with me for the rest of the night."

"I know,"

I smiled. "Don't be modest about it," I said sarcastically. "Why don't you go get some sleep? You look like you could keel over at any moment."

He nodded his head in agreement and stood up. He walked over, bent down and kissed me on top of my head, then began walking to the door. But, I grabbed his hand and pulled him back to me. I stood up and hugged him.

"Thank you," I whispered in his ear. He just held me. "I love you,"

Again, he kissed me on top of my head, which fit perfectly under his chin. "You too, darlin',"

I had never had a man answer my, almost always rushed, 'I love you' with 'You too, darlin'. They always said, 'I love you, too.' But, it was the most sincere, honest thing any man had every said to me, and I never wanted to let him go.


	5. Discovering The Truth

Disclaimer: Again, I do not own any of the X-Men characters or the rights to the song 'Iris', I'm just a big fan of both. I hope ya'll have enjoyed it so far and I hope that you like the rest.

Logan stayed in my room with me every night for the next two weeks. I didn't have a nightmare the entire time; it was the longest I had ever gone without having one. So I decided I would be okay to sleep in my room by myself for one night. But I was wrong. I had the nightmare that night, and I woke up screaming once again. I was crying too, and my room was shaking worse than it had the first time. It wasn't very long before Logan, Scott and Ororo were making their way into my room. I was shaking so badly that Logan and Scott both had to hold me so that I would stop.

"Was it the same dream?" Storm asked once I had settled down quite a bit and wasn't crying or shaking anymore. She handed me a blanket and Logan wrapped it around me.

"Yeah, it was the same one," I said, wiping the tears from my eyes.

"I wonder why you didn't have one while Logan was here with you." She said.

"I don't know,"

"Well, why does it keep getting worse every time you wake up?" Scott asked. He had moved to the edge of my bed along with Storm.

"I'm having them longer, that might have something to do with it, I really don't know."

"I think you need to talk to the Professor in the morning," Ororo said.

"No, I'll be okay," I protested.

"Anna, you've got to see him, this is getting out of hand. I felt _my_ room shake tonight when you woke up, it's going to keep getting worse." Scott said.

"It might not; this could be the worst of it. I'm just going to have to push myself to wake up sooner."

"It's not going to get better," Scott told me, matter-of-factly.

"How do you know?" I asked, wanting desperately to look into his eyes.

"Because Jean's nightmares were the same, she had to talk to the Professor. I don't know what he said to her, but it helped her out."

"All right, I'll talk to him tomorrow."

I didn't sleep very well for the rest of the night, even though Logan was with me. I tossed and turned, trying to get comfortable, but I couldn't.

"Are you awake?" I asked Logan.

"Yeah,"

"Me too," I said with a loud sigh. "Do you want to lay down with me?"

"Yeah," he said.

I placed one of my pillows on the empty side of the bed and moved over as he lied down beside me. I curled up beside him and wrapped my arm around his bare stomach. He wrapped his arm around my waist as I laid my head on his chest.

"Do you remember anything about your life before you lost your memory?" I asked.

"No, not much," he said, playing with my hair.

"Do you remember anything about your family?"

"No,"

"Do you want to?"

"I don't know. I want to remember but there are things that I do remember…and it makes me think that I wasn't that great of a guy before."

"People don't change Logan and you're a great person now, how could you think that?"

"It doesn't matter now," he said, sighing deeply.

My breathing soon fell into rhythm with his and his heart beats next to my ear helped me drift off to sleep.

I woke up the next morning slightly disoriented. What was I lying on and was making the loud noise? The answer to both was Logan; he was snoring. I laid there with him until he woke up.

"Hi," I said smiling up at him.

"Hi," he said back, groggily, "how did ya sleep?"

"Good, you?"

"Better than I have in a long time,"

"I'm glad,"

"So, are you gonna go see the Professor today?"

"I guess so, yeah."

"I think he really might know what's going on, Anna, more than the rest of us at least.

"I don't want to make a big deal out of it; I just want them to stop."

"Maybe he can help you,"

"Yeah, maybe," I said, snuggling back up to Logan. I have never felt so comfortable with anyone before him. I took in his smell, the constant smell of cigars and whiskey, which almost felt intoxicating in its own right. I ran my hand over his muscular stomach.

He pulled the blankets up over me more, "You feel cold," he said.

We laid in bed together, just talking, for over and hour. That's when I looked over at my alarm clock and saw that it was nearly ten o'clock. It was a Saturday so I didn't have any classes and neither did the Professor.

"I should probably get up at some point," I said lazily, sitting up in bed.

"Do you want me to go with ya?" He asked, sitting up beside me.

"No, I should be okay by myself."

"Are you sure?" He asked, taking my hand and kissing it.

"Yeah,"

"I'll let you get ready then," he said, kissing my forehead and climbing out of my bed. I followed him and wrapped my arms around his waist from behind and rested my head on his back.

"Thank you…for everything."

He turned around and faced me. "Don't…just let me take care of you."

It was nearly noon before I had gotten ready and went to see the Professor. I knocked lightly on his office door.

"Come in," he said. I pushed his door open, walking inside. "I've been expecting you, Anna, please have a seat." He pointed to the chair in front of his desk, which he was behind. I sat down quietly.

"I need to ask you some questions,"

"About your dreams,"

"Yes, what can I do to stop them?"

"You have to finish them."

"What do you mean; I thought I had finished them."

"No, you're waking yourself up, in order for the dream to pass you, you must finish it. There is a reason for why you are having them."

"What's the reason then?"

"I don't know. But, when you had your dream about Logan, when he was being attacked, you knew the reason when you woke up, did you not?"

I nodded my head yes. Logan's dream was why I told him that I needed him, because I knew he felt the same way. Maybe my dreams was to tell me that Jean was okay, that she didn't suffer and that she wasn't scared. I ran my fingers through my curly brown hair.

"It's just so scary having to see what I see. It's not like I'm watching someone die, I'm dying and I know that that's what Jean was feeling. The feeling of everything being pushed against me physically, and I'm scared….I'm _so_ scared, I don't want to have to go through that one more time…but I guess I have to."

"It will be much better, I promise."

"Why wasn't I having them while Logan was with me?"

"I don't know,"

"All right, that's all I wanted," I said standing up.

"I hope you have a good rest of the day, Anna,"

"You too, Professor," I said, leaving his office and shutting the door behind me.

"What did he say?" I heard from behind. I turned to see Scott stand there.

"He said that I have to finish the dream." I said. "I'm really sorry about all of this; I know it's been rough on you."

"No, it's worse for you; those dreams have really been hard on you."

"I'll be fine,"

"Anna, can I ask you something?"

"Yeah, anything,"

"What's up with you and Logan?"

"We're…seeing each other," I said for the lack of better words.

"He's not dependable; I wouldn't really count on him to stick around through all of this,"

"Scott, I really appreciate your concern, but we're fine,"

"I'm just trying to look out for you,"

"I know, you always have, but he's not that bad. He's really good to me and I'm happy with him. I've not been happy in a long time and it would mean a lot to me if you could just please try and understand that and accept it."

"I just don't think he's good for you,"

"I know you don't, but he is," I said, "he means a lot to me, so do you. I just hope that you can see that and be okay with it, at the least."

"Just be careful, okay? I don't trust him all that much."

"I know, and it means a lot to me. Thank you, you know I love you." I said, reaching out to give him a hug.

"I love you, too," he said hugging me back, "you're all I have now that Jean's gone and I don't want to see you get hurt."

"I need to go through some papers for Monday so I'm going to go," I said, letting go of him.

"Okay,"

I turned around and left, and went to my room. I needed some time by myself. Once I arrived I walked to my window and pulled back the curtains and let the sunny winter light fill my room. I pulled my chair over to my window and sat starting out, looking up at the sky for over an hour. During that time my thoughts turned to Jean and the task I had ahead of me that night.

"Jean," I said, thinking, hoping, that some way she could hear me, "please let me have your dream one more time. I want to know what you're trying to tell me, so just let me have one more chance and I'll try to figure it out. I just need one more time,"

"Come in," I said as I heard a knock on my door.

"Do you want me to stay with you tonight?" Logan asked, walking into my room.

"No, I need to be alone or I don't think I'll have the dream," I said, putting my clean laundry in my closet. It was nearly ten o'clock at night. "But thank you, that was very sweet." I walked over to him, wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him.

"Are you sure?" Logan asked, once I pulled my lips away from his.

"Yeah,"

He took a deep breath. "All right, I'll let you go to sleep then. If you need me you can come get me, or if I hear you I'll come and get you." He said, running his hands through my hair.

"Okay, goodnight, I love you."

"Night, love you, too." He said, kissing me one last time before leaving and closing the door behind him.

I quickly put away the rest of my laundry and changed into my pajamas before I finally climbed into bed. Although I had mixed feelings about finishing the dream, I was happy that I could be rid of it.

Sleep was kind and found me soon. That's when I saw a familiar grayness that I noticed that night, for the first time, as one of the walls in the dam. I saw its cracks, I could hear it crumbling, and before my eyes, clearer than it had ever been, I saw it break. I used my powers to hold back the water while I lifted the jet up off of the ground, giving it all the power that I could so that everyone would be safe. I held it for as long as I could, and then sent the jet flying. The water rushed at me, sweeping me away at first, and then pushing me to the bottom of its flood. I fought to try and stay afloat, but I couldn't. I didn't know if I was going up or if I was going further down, and I one point I wondered if I was even moving. Thoughts of Scott flashed before me, how much I loved him and cared for him, the Professor and how much I looked up to him, Storm and how she had always been a friend. I thought of Logan I was filled with memories of flirting and how brave I thought he was when he saved me, and Rouge, and all of us. And Anna, my dear friend Anna, thoughts of how close we were and how much fun we always had when we were together played through my mind. I was starting to feel the cold and I knew it was getting dark. The part of me that knew that I was still Anna, and not Jean, wanted me to wake up, screaming. But, I let Jean take over. Thoughts flashed, with memories playing their way through my head. My mind stopped at one that happened the night before the flood; I was standing there underneath the jet talking to Logan, and he kissed me. 'Wake up! Don't look at this!' My Anna brain screamed at me, but I wouldn't, not when I was so close. I made him stop, I wouldn't do that to Scott, I couldn't. Then it wasn't so cold, the dark wasn't so deep, and I began to see a light. I watched through the eyes of Jean what happened to her when she made everyone leave without her, and I couldn't believe what I was seeing. The dream was done and I was given back my full mind, which woke me up, as I screamed like I had so many times. But, I wasn't scared.

Logan, Scott and Storm rushed in, almost as if they hadn't been sleeping but waiting for me to wake up. I stared at the three of them, bewildered by what I had seen. Was it true, could it be at all possible?

"Are you okay?" Scott asked.

I nodded my head yes, not able to find my voice once I had stopped screaming.

"What's wrong?" Storm asked, studying my face. I didn't know what to say, I was trying to put everything I had seen together. Logan kissing Jean, when he had told me that nothing had happened between them, how insecure she felt, and what I had always hoped and wished and prayed for since I had come there that early Fall.

I caught my breath, and feeling the words form in my mouth I said; "She's not dead, Jean's still alive."

The End

"You can't fight the tears that ain't comin',

Or the moment of truth in your lies.

When everything feels like the movies,

Yeah you bleed just to know you're alive.

And I don't want the world to see me,

'Cause I don't think that they'd understand,

When everything's made to be broken, I

Just want you to know who I am, I just

Want you to know who I am."

'Iris' Goo Goo Dolls


End file.
